Winter 2025 Edition

After a blessed holiday season, 2025 is underway at SSPC!  

FAITH

February is a great time to cozy up and embrace the beauty of winter, and at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church, we believe that even the coldest days can spark the warmest connections! As the month of love will soon unfold, we like to think of it as the month of Christian love—a time to reflect on how we can love one another as Christ loves us.

Why not gather your family and friends for heartwarming activities like a hot cocoa night, a winter walk followed by a discussion about faith, or looking for your own “God Sightings”?

Join our Christian Education programs where you can be together while diving deeper into spiritual growth. Be sure to check out my Women in the Bible class, starting February 2.

The days are getting slightly longer, with the average sunset for February around 5:30 p.m., and those cold, snowy days won’t last forever! March may roar in like a lion but will hopefully end like a lamb, with much better weather. At least longer sunlight! But meantime, cherish every winter day spending time with the Lord, and caring for your friends and family.

Pastor Lisa

SSPC Spotlight

Sarah Neville and Ty Headley

As for hobbies, Sarah loves cooking, horseback riding, and photography, and Ty loves the theatre (he spent 15 years as a theatre carpenter!) and has an enthusiastic ("golden retriever like") personality! And they both love walking and spoiling Sarah's beagle Poppy! Be sure to greet Sarah and Ty next time you see them; and thanks for letting us shine the spotlight on you two this month!

“Reflections On The Joy of Giving”

My wife, Eleanor, reminds me that – while my nature is to always want to “do” for others – allowing them to give of themselves and be generous and helpful is, actually, a gift to them! Helping others makes us feel good, that we’re having a positive impact on that part of the world we touch.

We’re also taught, from a very young age, as Jesus said in Acts 20:35, in the context of supporting the weak, “it’s better to give than to receive.” What does that really mean? The new Silver Spring Mission Statement is about being generous with ourselves – our love and our limited resources. But why? Generously giving to Silver Spring our financial, physical and spiritual support enables us to, collectively, experience the joy of loving and praising our God, loving and nurturing our members and loving and serving our neighbors.

In our family, when we sit down to break bread together, we begin by thanking God for our many blessings and end with asking God to always help us remember the needs of others. As we start the new calendar year, may each of us be able to reflect on, and appreciate, the many blessings God has bestowed upon us and experience the true joy of giving of ourselves so that others may feel loved and appreciated.

Bill Resser  

Missions

What does Mission mean to you?

The biblical concept of "mission" combines the authority of the one who sends; the obedience of the one sent; a task to be accomplished; the power to accomplish the task; and a purpose within the moral framework of God's covenantal working of judgment or redemption.

Are you involved in the mission of Silver Spring Presbyterian Church? If you have ever volunteered to serve meals at Downtown Daily Bread, deliver Meals on Wheels, collected items for New Hope Ministries, or volunteered at Beacon Clinic, you are involved in mission. Have you ever worked with Rebuilding Together, SSPC Handy Helpers or went a ROAR Mission trip? If so, you are definitely involved in mission.

These are just a few examples of the many opportunities our congregation has to be involved in mission outreach at SSPC. Our Mission Committee routinely reviews the agencies that our congregation supports to ensure that their focus and mission aligns with that of SSPC. Please review the Annual Report for a list of the many agencies that we as a congregation supported in 2024. 



1 Corinthians 12: 4-7

 ⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, ⁵ and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Part of our commitment as members of this body of Christ is to share our “Time, Talent and our Treasures”. On any given day, you may find members of our congregation busy working on various tasks around our beautiful SSPC campus. On any given day you will find someone from our congregation involved in one of the many agencies Silver Spring congregation supports. Do you hear that still small voice calling you to serve? If you do feel God calling you to serve in other capacities our Mission Committee can assist you in finding ways to serve.  - Cheryl Moore

On January 19th, we celebrated the many ways SSPC volunteers serve the community through a special service dedicated to Mission Sunday. For the service link, please click here. To listen to Chloe Scott's beautiful ROAR song to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," please click here.

Christian Education

The Christian Education Committee supports the worship life of our congregation by helping Silver Spring members and friends address our inherent hunger to know and love God with our minds as well as our hearts.

We are excited about our new initiatives for this winter and early spring!

Discount Cards Fundraiser: Starting early 2025, the CE Committee will sell discount cards featuring 15 local businesses, offering discounts for a year. Proceeds will support youth events and activities.

Valentine’s Day Event - Parent's Drop-Off afternoon!  On February 8th from 3:00 - 6:00 pm, CE Youth will host another Parent Drop-Off event where children will make Valentine’s cards, enjoy a Charlie Brown special, play games, and share a meal of chicken nuggets and tater tots. There is a sign-up sheet in the Gathering Place, or sign up HERE through Realm.

ZETEO and Youth Sunday

The Youth are excited for their upcoming trip to Zeteo, a Christian conference in Manheim, PA, and for Youth Sunday on February 16th, where they will lead the service and deliver a powerful message about the Love of Jesus. Let’s show our support by packing the pews!

December Highlights in CE

The CE Youth had a wonderful Advent season, starting with a Parent Drop-In on December 7th, where nine children made ornaments, watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966 version), and enjoyed pizza.

On December 8th, we hosted the Annual Advent Feast & Festival, featuring a ham dinner, desserts, Christmas music, a "Not-so Ugly Sweater” contest, and the performance of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

On Christmas Sunday, the CE Youth served a festive breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, and more to over 90 attendees before the service.

On Christmas Eve, the CORE youth helped to set up the luminaries around the church grounds, and all enjoyed the Family Christmas Eve Service!

Christmas Eve Services were beautiful. The Family service featured the Christmas Story, complete with a large cast of characters, followed by a Live Nativity!

Children and Adults wait for the Christmas Eve Family Service to begin.

Our Church Community

Deacons

The Deacons continue their activities assisting the congregation, with cards, prayer shawls and meals as needed. The Angel Tree was a great success with over one hundred gifts given to needy students in the Cumberland Valley School District

Family

Some updates from the SSPC Preschool: 

Registration is open and underway for fall of 2025-26 and we are filling up fast!

We are having our Valentine parties in February, conferences in March and our Easter Egg hunts in April!

The Preschool Pancake Breakfast (fundraiser) is coming back this year too, at a different time: we’re planning to do it at the end of March!

Worship Music

The church’s choirs are always singing and open to new members!

• Sanctuary Choir continues to rehearse on Wednesday evenings during the year, to sing most Sunday mornings for the Traditional service.  If you’d like more information about joining the Choir, or about an informal audition to join the Gathering Band as a vocalist or an instrumentalist, you may contact Kyle at any point. KyleW@silverspring.org

• The Intergenerational Choir meets on Sundays from 10 to 10:15 am. This month, we are singing songs related to the Sunday School curriculum. This choir is open to everyone. We would love to have you join us! Please contact Tracy at tracy@silverspring.org if you have any questions.

SSPC's own Brass Ensemble, featuring Ted Cramer on the Tuba, John Zimmerman on the Euphonium, Don Wahlig, trombone, and Brad Bumsted and Matt Wieseman, trumpets, performed at Bethany Village on December 22nd.

Mary Lou Pierce McLain (1936-2024), a long-time leader and nursing professional in Central Pennsylvania, was a strong advocate for accessible health care. In that spirit, recently, Health Ministries and the Pastoral Team honored her by naming our medical equipment area the Mary Lou Pierce McLain, RN Medical Closet. "Mary Lou was a champion for those who needed accessible health care and equipment available to them, so it is fitting to name our equipment closet after her," said Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, who added the closet is available to anyone in need of equipment. Her family, members of the health ministries’ team and the staff were on hand to celebrate her many years of ministry in the nursing field, and her many years of service to SSPC. The plaque reads "dedicated in loving memory to a SSPC and community health angel, Mary Lou Pierce McLain, RN."

Small Group Ministries

Women in the Bible Study

What do Sarah, Deborah, Ruth, Abigail, Esther, Mary, Mary of Magdalene and other women in the Bible have in common? While quite human, they were women of great faith, whose stories can teach and inspire us by their devotion to God, their relationship savvy, their intelligence, and their courage. Beginning with Eve (first mother, first wife – partner, first to bury a child) whose actions ushered in the need for a Redeemer, join Pastor Lisa for a seven-week, hybrid study, beginning on Sunday, February 2nd at 12:30 pm in Room 204. The only materials participants need are their Bibles, pens, pencil, or notebook. This is an original study Pastor Lisa is creating from her own research, and will be presented through PowerPoint. The program is available online and in-person. Participants will be sent the Zoom link each Sunday morning before the Traditional Service.

Sign-up is required - please register through Realm or use the sign-up sheet in the Gathering Place. For those attending in person, a light lunch will be provided. While this is a study on women for women, all are invited. Questions? Contact Pastor Lisa Chase at lisa@silverspring.org

You may sign up On Realm by clicking on the following link: Women in the Bible

Our spring issue of Enlighten will be distributed in early May. Please send all information covering months May - August 2025 to Amy Meadows and Heather McCarthy by April 22, 2025. We will also include stories of events that happen March - April 2025.

Enlighten is edited by Priscilla Biller, Heather McCarthy and Amy Meadows,

and designed by Lisa Chase.

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